The 74th Hunger Games in Blood Gulch?
by Freelancer Mississippi
Summary: What really happenned. Katniss found a new love, Thresh goes beyond harvesting, and Cato meets his match. And O'malley...is O'malley. The villians are: various Tributes, A possessed medic with the highest kill total, A very big thug, and a sniper freelancer. Rated T for mild language and love scenes.
1. Chapter 1

What a BAD idea.

Katniss was standing is the hovercraft bay waiting for a hovercraft to come pick her up. The rest of the tributes were milling around, showing off the new uniforms. These suits were different than the previous years'. They were red and blue; some even had designs. For example, hers was red with a kitten with spikes on it. Peeta's was blue with vegetables on it. He strolled over.

"Hey. You ready?"

"Yep. You?"

"I wonder what the holdup is."

"Yeah. I heard that the gamemakers are changing the arena last minute."

Suddenly a voice came over the intercom.

"Change of plans, tributes," said the voice of Claudius Templesmith. Katniss and the other tributes looked up in confusion. "This year you will be using instantaneous teleporters to get to the arena. And we're going to tell you where you're going to be this year. Katniss waited for the name.

"Blood Gulch."

Red Base

Simmons yawned. He was just getting his first cup of coffee at 10 AM, after Sarge's early morning runs and exercise sessions. After all, he was the only soldier who actually worked. Donut was cooking bacon and pancakes in the kitchen, Grif was sitting at the bar, and Sarge was reading a month old newspaper.

Simmons said to Grif "Listen, what's that noise?" a low hum was coming from outside they all ran to the door to check it out.

Blue Base

Church opened his eyes trying to register what the noise was that woke him. A dull hum. "Caboose! Are you running the blender."

"Help! My fingers got chopped off. Now I only have 10."

"Just somebody shut that noise up."

"Church! Get up here now! There's something you need to see."

Church recognized the urgency in Tucker's voice. He threw on his armor and hurried to the top of the base.


	2. Chapter 2

A new way of seeing

Katniss stared in shock at the desolate canyon surrounding them. It was dry and dusty. Two metal buildings stood at either end; a red banner was on one and an identical blue banner. She turned to the Cornucopia. It was made of black metal and weapons were spilling out. She spotted some arrows and made a mental note, _'That's mine.' _She heard the countdown. _**3…2….1…GO!**_

**THRESH**

Thresh looked around. _'I wonder if anybody has noticed how dusty, dry, and desolate this place is. Bad for growing wheat.' _He stared at the Cornucopia. It's made of black metal. _'Black metal will be burning hot. All food supplies in there will be ruined.' _He saw a sickle near a bag of… something. He didn't care what was in there as long as it was something useful. The countdown began: _**3….2….1…..GO!**_

**CATO**

_'Nobody here can match me. Except maybe that brute from 11. He seems strong.' _Cato thought. If he could get his hands on a sword, he could do some serious damage. He spotted some vital supplies and tried to decide whether to go for the supplies and rely on brute strength alone or go for the sword and possibly miss his chance. He decided to go for the sword as he heard the countdown. _**3…..2…1…..GO!**_

**Red Base**

Simmons stared in shock as what looked to be 24 boys and girls all in a circle surrounding some metal horn.

"What in Sam Hell?" Sarge muttered

"Hey look. Some of them are wearing red. That must mean Command sent them to help us," said Donut, who had stepped away from his bacon just long enough to look through the doorway. He smelled burning. Simmons saw a nice looking black-haired girl wearing a red shirt.

"Hey Sarge."

"Yes, Private Simmons."

"I think we should go save the reds."

"Sure. Lets just waltz on over and find out what's wrong."

"Was that sarcasm?"

"Of course! We should get in the Warthog first."

"You mean the Puma," corrected Grif.

"Just go!" They heard a booming voice from the area: _**3…2…..1….GO!**_

**Blue Base**

Church arrived at the top of the Base. He was panting and wheezing. Everybody else was already up there.

"Looks like somebody needs to start working out," Tex said.

"Yeah, Church. Lay off the Twinkies," added Tucker.

"Neither of you should make comments. I came out of my room last night to investigate a crackling in the kitchen, I found Tucker chowing down on Fudge Rounds. And Tex, you've been belching every time you take a run." snapped Church.

"That's because I had e. coli. Anyhow, look. There are those reinforcements we asked for."

"Caboose, get in the Tank. Go shoot the Reds."

"Yes, Church!" He saluted and ran off. As he ran they heard a loud voice say: _**3….2…1….GO!**_


	3. Chapter 3

A funny thing happened on the way to the Cornucopia

**KATNISS**

Katniss bolted towards a bright orange backpack. Another red-shirted boy, from district 9, struggled for it but started coughing up blood. A dagger stuck out of his back and Clove, from district 2, wielded similar knives. Then she saw Thresh use a cool tactical move: he slid under the sword wielded by a boy from district 4, then he grabbed a sickle, slashed across his chest, and grabbed a bag of weapons. Cato slashed both tributes from district 6 close to in half with a longsword. She then was snapped out of her focus by a distant rumble. Then everybody stopped. Clove walked over.

"Is that….music?" she muttered.

Then all hell broke loose.

**RED TEAM**

The Puma soared over the hill, its non-ending mariachi music blaring.

"Yahoo! Suck it blues!" yelled Sarge as he blasted a boy with the number 8 on his back. Suddenly, a shell sped straight through the lines. It exploded by boys (wearing the number 7) and a girl (wearing 10 and 7).

"Caboose! One of those people was our reinforcements!"

"Not my fault. Somebody put their bodies in my way."

Simmons fired the turret and a girl about 14 years old fell. He yelled "Suck it Red! Oops! I mean Blue!" _'God, I have to start remembering that I'm back to red now.' _He spotted the pretty girl he had noticed. She wielded a bow and arrows; she also wore a shirt embroidered with a kitten with spikes. He was about to mention something to Sarge when he noticed Caboose noticing as well. He heard Sarge mutter "Oh son of a…"

"A kitten with spikes? That…makes…me…..ANGRY!" said Caboose, his voice starting to rise. His voice grew deeper, his visor growing darker, and he zeroed in on the girl. "My name is Michael J. Caboose and I love babies!" He ran up to the girl and punched her in the gut. She flew back about 20 feet, then hit the Puma. Simmons grabbed her and pulled her into the back of the Puma. "Are you OK?" asked Simmons. She replied "Yes, but that blue guy needs to take some chill strips. You know, the ones that dissolve on your tongue…"

"Are you related to Vic?"

"Who? Vic Everdeen? Sounds like a surfer, thinks he's hip…"

"That sounds about right."

Sheila took this time to shoot a shell straight at them. They dodged but were up in time to see Caboose break somebody's head. A boy with the number 5 on his back. Simmons and the girl rounded up the surviving Reds. Sarge walked up and down the line with his shotgun, eyeing his new recruits.

"Why are you here? This is an arena that's supposed to be empty!" interrupted a blond haired girl. Sarge sighed and replied "Well it's obviously not, missy."

They started walking back to red base, and Simmons stared at the girl, the whole time.

**MEANWHILE…**

"What do you think?" said a purple armored man, who then said in a lighter voice "Why would you ask?"

"Obviously, they will make easy henchmen" said another man in a comical British accent. "What about you?"

The last man growled something unintelligible.

"Excellent point, friend." said the deep voice in the purple armor. They turned around and walked into the caves.


	4. Chapter 4

New Trainees

**KATNISS**

She had noticed the one in Maroon staring at her intently the whole 15 minutes back to their base. She was relieved when the sergeant sent him and this other yellow guy to get something.

"OK, recruits," he said, "Before you can get into the base, we need to test your abilities. For this we're going to use Grif as a target, also known as the orange one." The maroon soldier dragged Grif out, who now had a blue target sprayed on both his face plate and chest plate. Marvel, the tribute from district 1, lunched forward with a spear and this orange one, Grif tried to block and swing his rifle, but Marvel ducked and jabbed him in the ribs. His holographic form flickered and dissipated. As it did he shouted, "It was worth it." Marvel grinned smugly as Sarge nodded in approval. "Next!" he barked in his Southern accent. Clove stepped up and another Holo-Grif appeared.

"I am literally the worst program ever made!" it exclaimed. He brought out a pistol and tried to block a strike made by Clove, but he crushed his own hand as Clove threw a knife straight through his face plate. That made him disappear.

"Very nice, girly," Sarge commented. "Next!"

This went on down the line and nothing interesting happened until they reached Thresh. This time, the Holo-Grif actually connected with Thresh, and Thresh obviously didn't like that. As the Grif swung at him he slid through his open legs, causing the Grif to hit himself in his area. Thresh then cut his clavicle artery. The Grif fell down and died. As Katniss's Grif appeared, he said "Let's get this over with." Katniss backed up and drew back her bow. She let an arrow fly. It struck the Grif in the middle of his visor. It kept going and struck the real Grif, in the hand.

"OW!CRAP!" he screamed.

The maroon one sighed. "Time to put in a call to the evil medic." He ran off into the base. Katniss heard him yell "Donut! Put down the frickin' phone! Don't you realize you rack up the phone bill."

"It's not my fault Sarge orders soldier poison every day!" Katniss was then snapped out of her trance by Sarge appraising her.

"Now, get in line. We're going to assign you rooms. Everybody out now!" Grif, the maroon one, and the pink one, who must be Donut, filed out. "Now, you can be in my room, Grif and Simmons's room, or Donut's room. Pick your poison." explained Sarge. Marvel when first; he chose to go with Sarge. Clove picked Sarge as well. Winch(District 3 boy), Tridentt(District 4 girl), and Soo(District 8 girl) all went with Donut, leaving Thresh and Katniss to room with Grif and Simmons. She walked into the base and followed Simmons into their room. She noticed immediately that it was messy. To give you a mental image, imagine a room that has had a charity clothing truck and garbage truck dumped into a room, then multiply that by 10, and then that is a humble exaggeration. That's oly on half the room. The other side was clean enough to eat a 5 star dinner off the floor. The was covered in motor oil stains, screws, bolts, and papers. In the closet, there were sweats, jeans, shirts, armor plates, and, interestingly enough, robotic arms. There was some extra space on the floor for her and Thresh.

"It's got charm," said Katniss. "What do you think of it, Thresh?"

"Yes," he grunted simply. Then Simmons's phone started ringing.

"Hello? Yes? Oh, you again. Yes. Of course it's Grif. Get here, now! Bye." Simmons turned to Grif, and said "O'malley said they would be hear in five minutes." Then he turned to us and said "Lopez will be up here with some sleeping bags for you."

"Si." A robotic voice said from behind them. "Yo estoy aqui. Hola, idiotas mas."

"You see, he only speaks Spanish." said Simmons. Lopez set down the bags. "Adios, idoitas."

"Dinner! I made beef stew. Simmons, you need to bring your own." Donut called from the kitchen. All the reds and the other tributes filed towards the kitchen. There was a long dining table and a small bar. All the armored soldiers sat at the bar and the tributes sat at the table. A purple armored soldier already sat at the head of the table. He took off his helmet, and smiled at them. He had tan skin and a brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. He sat his helmet down next to him.

"Hi. I'm Doc, and I'm the-"he was interrupted by a voice from his helmet.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't introduced. I'm O'malley." Then he laughed in an evil voice.

"Why did your helmet just talk?" said Clove.

"Infection by AI." explained Doc.

"Everybody dig in!" chortled Donut. He served the stew to everybody but Simmons. Simmons popped the top of a can and started drinking some thick, black sludge. Katniss looked closer as O'malley laughed. "You should start drinking 30 weight. That 7 weight crap is bad for your motherboard."

"It's motor oil!" shrieked Katniss.

"What? Never seen a cyborg before?" Simmons said. He unscrewed his shoulder socket and brandished his arm like a sword.

She and the others stopped eating and abruptly went back to their rooms. Sarge yelled after them "You're going to rise early."

Katniss opened the door to her room and shut off the lights. After awhile she fell asleep. Soon after, somebody walked in and kissed her forehead. The person said "Goodnight, Katniss."

**CATO**

"You have a choice: you room with me, Tucker, Caboose, Sister, or Tex. Your choice." said the man with greasy black hair, who identified himself as Church. "Only one can be with Sister, and you have to be a girl. Tucker, you can have 2, Caboose can have 1, Tex can have 1, and I can take 1." Glimmer went with Sister, Shepard(Boy from district 10) came with Caboose, Rue and Foxface went to Tucker's room, Peeta went with Tex, and Cato was left with Church. Cato dragged his sword and his pack to Church's room. Church was wearing sweats and a light blue T-shirt. "Took you long enough." he commented.

"Hey, you move faster than me!"

"You're new. I had to taunt you." Church shrugged.

"Dinner." screamed Tex.

"Don't eat it. She probably poisoned it," Church whispered Cato. He snickered and walked out. The kitchen was filled with lovely smells; the roasting of some type of bird, the spice of cinnamon buns, the smell of rice. Tex, now with her helmet off, was revealed to have emerald green eyes and fiery red hair. She Served everybodys' plate and then sat down. Glimmer took one bite, chewed it and smiled.

"This is gooooooooooooo…" she trailed off and her face fell into the food. Everybody laughed, Tex being the hardest.

"Ok, Ok…..," Tex said, laughs still echoing in her tone. "That was necessary. She deserved it, from what Peeta has told me. Don't worry. She'll wake up with a HUGE headache

"Told you she poisoned it," whispered Church. Cato laughed. Unfortunately, Tex noticed.

"What's so funny?" she raised her eyebrows. Church just winked and said "Did I ever mention that Tex and I used to date?"

"You WHAT?" Peeta spluttered as food exploded from his mouth onto Foxface's shirt. She silently stalked back to her room. Everybody was looking for Tex's expression. But instead of blushing, she just slowly nodded her head.

"It's true," she said quietly. "But that's over now. That means I DON'T like him any more." She mainly directed this comment towards Peeta, who was still gaping at her, cutting her eyes between her and Church.

"Yeah. Hey, let me tell you about the time she stole money out of my wallet and used it to by copies of 'The National Enquirer'. It was a long time ago…." He started relating what had happened. Tex had excused herself by the time he got to when he passed her at her locker saying "Really? No way!"

By this time, it was time to go to bed. Everybody trudged back to their rooms, tired after the day's work. Cato easily fell asleep.


End file.
